The invention relates in general to grenades, and in particular to hand grenades.
When it explodes, the time-delay, fragmentation, anti-personnel hand grenade launches hundreds of small metal fragments in every direction. These sorts of grenades are designed to be durable, easy to use and easy to manufacture. The grenade firing mechanism is triggered by a spring-loaded striker inside the grenade. Normally, the striker is held in place by the striker lever on top of the grenade, which is held in place by the pull pin. The pull pin has a pull ring attached at one end. In use, a soldier grips the grenade so the striker lever is pushed up against the grenade body, grips the pull ring and removes the pull pin, and then tosses the grenade.
Retaining the pull pin in place is a concern with grenade fuzes. If the pull pin is inadvertently removed, the grenade becomes armed. In the past, soldiers would tape the pull ring to the grenade fuze in an attempt to enhance safety and to reduce noise caused by movement of the pull ring and pull pin. Removing the tape, however, sometimes inadvertently and undesirably removed the pull pin. To overcome this problem, some grenades now include a “confidence clip” to support the pull ring. However, the confidence clip is not a completely satisfactory solution. And, the pull pin may still generate undesired noise when the grenade is moved, even with the confidence clip.
A need exists for an apparatus that can be installed on existing grenades to prevent accidental removal of the pull pin when the grenade is dropped and to prevent undesired noise cause by movement of the pull pin and pull ring.